Castleman's disease—A case report

Abstract

Castleman's disease is a rare clinicopathological entity characterized by non-neoplastic lymph node hypertrophy. Its incidence and etiology is unknown. It has been found in association with Kaposi's sarcoma thus necessitating investigations for HIV. Although its localized variety is benign other types can be multifocal with adverse systemic manifestations. A case report of a 42 yrs old female with a slowly enlarging highly vascular mass in the left iliac fossa is presented which lead to a histological diagnosis of this rare condition (see picture). Furthermore its clinical features, its types, relevant investigations and current treatment modalities are discussed.

Multicentric Castleman's Disease in a 21 Years Old Female : A Rare But Important Condition

“…Clinically the disease has 2 forms, First one is localized as first described by Castleman, which is more common and another one Multicentric Castleman's Disease (MCD) with involvement of several sites, which was first described by Gaba et al in 1972 1 . The histological subtypes of Castleman's disease are as follows: Hyaline vascular variant (Unicentric in 72% of all cases) plasma cell variant (Unicentric in 18% and multicentric in 10% of all cases) mixed variant, and a plasmablastic variant of multicentric Castleman's disease 2 .…”

“…The sites commonly involved are abdomen, peripheral lymph nodes and the mediastinum 1 . It is often discovered incidentally during routine examination, chest X rays or due to discomfort secondary to local compression 1 .…”

“…Most treatment modalities involve immunosuppression, increasing the chance of opportunistic infections. Recent suggestions of treatment with antivirus drug, Gangciclovir or the anti-CD20 B cell monoclonal antibody, Rituximab may markedly improve outcome 1 .…”

“…Castleman et al first described it in 1956 in a group of patients with localized benign lymphadenopathy 1 . There are two known expansion types of this disease, unicentric and multicentric, which plays a major role in determining therapy.…”

Castleman Disease- An Uncommon And Intriguing Condition Revisited: A Report Of Two Cases

“…[4,5] Clinically, it can be divided into unicentric (localised) and multicentric (generalised) types. [11] The unicentric form is seen anywhere along the lymphatic chain, most commonly mediastinum followed by other sites such as the neck, axilla, thorax, mesentery, spleen, pancreas, retroperitoneum, and adrenal. The multicentric form characterized by involvement of multiple lymph nodes and multiple organs was first described by Gaba et al in 1972.…”